When will natural gas demand (and prices) rise? Patience, patience, patience

North America is swimming in natural gas and global demand is still lagging. But opportunities should open up in a few months as exports increase in the Gulf Coast and western Canada and inventories fall.

There will be relief to reduce the excess storage, but that probably won’t happen before 2025, energy experts said at the LDC Gas Forums Rockies & West conference in San Diego. Alex Gafford, senior energy analyst at East Daley, discussed the opportunities and challenges ahead with Leticia Gonzales, managing director of North American natural gas pricing at NGI, and Chet Sharma, natural gas fundamentals analyst at NRG Energy Inc.

Winters have been warmer than normal. New and expanded LNG export projects, some of which were planned for this year, have been postponed. The associated natural gas from Permian Basin oil wells is being flared because there are not enough offtake options and prices are negative.